Will Facebook’s Bold Move Benefit Your Business?

One thing is certain, Facebook will never be accused of standing still. After seeing attention being pulled away by more visual sites like Instagram and Pinterest, Facebook knew something had to be done.

They’re decision? Revamp the newsfeed.

Facebook will immediately start rolling out the updated newsfeed, but you may not notice it for a few more weeks. To ensure it is well received, they are slowly pushing it out to allow for feedback and testing. 

WHAT ARE THE CHANGES

The company’s tagline is “Less Clutter, More Stories”, and VP of Product Chris Cox added that the changes were intended to make the product more immersive. In other words, a greater emphasis on photos.

Photos will now be significantly larger in the newsfeed, and in fact will be almost the same size as when you would historically click on an image to enlarge it. All of the recent data has suggested that images receive the greatest engagement from friends / fans, so this is a smart move for a company that needs users to spend an ever increasing amount of time onsite (and clicking ads).

There is also a more consistent user experience across devices, which is a move that was long overdue.

Content-specific feeds however may be the most important change. To continue with the “less clutter” vibe, you can now decide what type of content to consume. Instead of sorting through music updates, your friend’s baby photos, and your extended family’s Farmville updates, Facebook has finally given the user the ability to create their own experience.

The ability to toggle the type of content is an interesting move, and one that could definitely impact brands.

Click here for an overview of all the changes.

HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHANGES

Facebook’s intent is clearly to increase time onsite and the overall user experience, so while the impact has yet to be fully determined, businesses should be aware of these changes and start thinking strategically about their approach.

How would I do this? Think visually!

Images will be larger in the newsfeed including those used in ads (hint hint), the “following” feed gives brands a boost as their fans will now be able to see more of their content, and Facebook did 3rd party a solid by making their content more immersive as well. Welcome news for apps like Spotify, Pinterest, and even our own  Community Rewards.

We will continue to update our blog as we evaluate these and any future changes to the platform, so check back often.

Need Help With “Nearby”?

At Modern Message we get excited by some strange things. Namely, the apartment industry and marketing innovation.

So we are really excited to announce that our social referral system, Community Rewards, can now enable apartments to benefit from Facebook’s new business discovery feature for mobile called “Nearby”. The first company in multifamily to offer this as a service.

Each day 150 million Facebook users visit brand pages, and 250 million users tag posts with a location each month. To help businesses benefit from this data, Facebook recently revealed a major upgrade to it’s Nearby feature which helps users discover what’s around them based on the likes, check-ins, and recommendations of friends.

Though the feature is still in it’s infancy, taking advantage of this new feature NOW presents a perfect opportunity for management companies to better position themselves online. Plus the scale at which Facebook operates makes Nearby well positioned to take on rivals Yelp, Google, and Foursquare (and even ApartmentRatings) for business discovery and reviews. This is especially true when you consider that renters are increasingly leveraging mobile devices during their search.

By integrating Nearby into our platform, we’re able to keep our clients ahead of the curve and continue to be at the forefront marketing innovation within the multifamily industry.

Modern Message LLC Launches Lease Up Product With Largest Student Housing Development in the US

Modern Message LLC announced today that GHP Management has hired the company to lease up their new student housing property, The Lorenzo, through social media.

“We are very excited to work with GHP and The Lorenzo. Our social media lease up solution has been proven to energize prospective residents to share information to their friends about the property, and increase the number of qualified leads,” said John Hinckley, CEO of Modern Message. “Launching our program with a student housing community as large as The Lorenzo is a exciting opportunity for our company.”

The Lorenzo is a mixed use student housing development that is currently pre-leasing for the fall of 2013. Upon completion, The Lorenzo will have a total of 913 units and 3,648 beds making it the largest student housing development currently in the United States.

“We are at the beginning of a fundamental shift in the way apartments market themselves,” said Hinckley.

Continue Reading…

When a Fan Page Posts on Facebook, Does Anyone Hear It?

via Modern on Pinterest

No One is Reading Your Fan Page Posts!

Ok that’s not entirely accurate… but last week SEO’s and social media experts started sounding the alarm about a very noticeable decrease in their Fan Page’s reach. This was confirmed by multiple sources including TechCrunch and Facebook’s own analytics provider EdgeRank Checker.

Social media agency “We Are Social” went a step further and ran the data from the pages they administrated. You will notice a very distinct trend since August:

40% Drop Since August

So What Does This Mean for Me?

Based on our preliminary research into this issue, it is clear that Facebook is decreasing the reach of Fan Page posts. Whether this is a clear move on Facebook’s part to push page owners towards using promoted posts / sponsored stories, or an honest attempt to respond to concerns that brand posts are overwhelming the newsfeed is a judgement you’ll have to make on your own.

The reality is that more and more brands are being told by to post continuously on their Fan page, so therefore all are competing for an ever-decreasing piece of the pie.

To continue to stand out requires focusing on engagement, which means understanding your residents / fans enough to know what appeals to them, and yes most likely paying for an ad or two.

Well played Mr. Zuckerberg…

The Simple Science of Facebook Engagement